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TheKenzai1987

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EDIT: The AMCA is now officially over. A big thank you to everyone who had participated. I truly appreciate the support and interest you have for my cast.


I decided to try and do something a little different this year for the AMA (ask me anything). Instead of asking me, I will let you ask my cast of characters what you have always wanted to know. A little unorthodox, but like I said, I want to try something a little different this time round.


Anyway, as usual, I got some guidelines for this AMCA. Not to worry, it will not be as restrictive as the previous AMA.

1) You can ask up to 3 questions a day. You can either use all 3 questions on one character, or spread them out so you ask 1 question each to 3 separate characters. When asking a character a question, do mention the character's name first before popping it.

E.G. Joey, is there a special someone in your mind right now?


2) You can ask just about anything to a character, and I will try and answer it in-character as much as possible. However, do note that if a question delves into spoiler territory, expect cryptic answers. It's common courtesy, but when you ask a question, do maintain some kind of civility, like how you will ask a person a question in real life.


3) I will do my best to answer your questions as quickly as possible, but I do request some time to get in-character and provide an adequate response. Since I have work and other commitments, it may take a while before I respond, so I hope you can understand when your questions are not answered swiftly.


4) I will restrict questions only to human characters for the time being, since it is a little hard to act as an angel or primal (plus, there is very little lore for those two factions). However, you CAN bypass this restriction by asking some of my angel characters if you refer to them by their human names (Iori for Iofiel, Hannah for Haniel, Amalia for Anapiel).


5) This AMA will run from June 8 to June 21, with the cutoff point being 12 noon (Pacific Standard Time) on June 21. Any questions posted after the cutoff point will not be entertained. Inversely, with 14 days available, mathematically this gives you 42 chances (14 days x 3 questions) to ask all you want about my cast of characters. As I mentioned, have a little patience while I answer your questions as best as I can get in-character.


6) Have fun.


Post your questions via the comments on this journal entry. I am a little nervous about what to expect, but hey, you have to break that first egg to make an omelet. That will do it for now, and let's see how this goes.

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Hey everyone! Kenzai here. If you are taken by surprise by this journal title, I do not blame you. However, due to circumstances surrounding DA, I feel like I have to take precautions in order to save my own brand which I have been building for nearly two decades.


Most of you are aware that DA had once again changed their terms and conditions, and there is a straight up ban on anything depicting underaged characters in compromising positions, especially female characters. Look, while I am definitely against anything related to hurting children, the way this was done was not only out of left field, but also seemingly on a whim. Considering where DA is based at (AND I live in the same cesspool, f me), I have to wonder exactly who is it that this new ban is targeted. Is it to sponsors who are obviously against NSFW content for branding reasons, or a small but VERY vocal group of narcissists who only exist to tear down others?


Another thing that irks me is just how vague the definition is, and I am seriously worried that this is a blatant attack on manga style artists like myself, since the manga art style does appear youthful due to the facial composition, especially with the eyes. Anyone can just point at a manga or chibi character, raise an alarm, and months, even years, of hard work is gone in an instant. It's no secret that the vocal minority I mentioned absolutely hate manga style art, since not only does it look better than any crap they pose as "art", it also eats at their pride that East Asian countries like China and especially Japan refuse to adapt to THEIR messed up ideology. "It's easier to tear down than to build", as the old saying goes, so I will be damned if anyone tries to torch my brand that took me nearly two decades to build up cause they treat hurting their feelings like a freaking war crime.


Until there is a clear definition of what is OK and not OK to post on this website, I am hereby putting all submissions on hold. This includes character profiles, sketch dumps, 3D modeling stuff, all of it. If you still want to follow my stuff, I'll direct you to my recently revived Pixiv account. The content that I already posted will still be here, as an archive, at least until some wacko wannabe activist decides what I draw hurts their pride and it's gone forever. Unfortunately, I did lose some of the drawings I scanned when I had to have my laptop reconfigured, so any drawing I uploaded circa 2021 is permanently lost if I get a notification telling me it was taken down.


That being said, while I will no longer be uploading stuff on this site, I will stick around, at least until a wacko wants me gone, but without the courtesy to tell me "please leave". Look, like I said, I live in this cesspool with these freaking twats, I know entitlement when I see it. Until then, I will still be around here, checking on notifications occasionally, but you want any art from me, you have to go to my Pixiv from now on. If, and only if, DA actually closes the loopholes with their definitions, I may reconsider uploading my stuff here again, but considering how people think they are hot garbage cause a couple of suits bent the knee to them, I am seriously doubting that.


Anyway, I have said my peace, and I will be gradually filling up my Pixiv account with some recent drawings, minus the sketch dumps. The link to it can be found below.


https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/30092056


This is TheKenzai1987, and I will see you on the next one (on Pixiv).

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DISCLAIMER: This discusses fictional characters and their hypothetical nationalities in real-life. Emphasis on hypothetical, and has no connections with real life whatsoever.


Maybe it's cause of recent shows that I have been watching, I am tempted to give a rough estimate of which nationalities your favorite ladies from my cast are from. Once again, this is just for fun, and not something for political discussion, cause I am sick and tired of stupid idiots making mountains out of molehills.


This will only cover the "lady" characters, but based on proximity, any supporting characters will probably be based in the same region. Plus, this list will feature sovereign countries, and any autonomous or tribal ties will be done through the parent country (X via Y, for instance).


In addition, as some are pretty heavily mixed, just note that this is a rough estimate, so once again, no need to take this stuff seriously.


Borealia

Annabella - United Kingdom

Charlene - France

Corinna - Germany

Emmanuelle - Greece

Grazia - Italy

Odilia - Switzerland


Meridia

Farzana - Sudan

Iliana - Iran

Muna - Morocco

Rachida - Tajikistan

Sarina - Turkey/Turkiye

Tamara - Egypt


Orienta

Lai-Ling - Hong Kong (via China)

Leilani - Hawaii (via the United States)

Kimiko - Japan

Min-Hye - Korea (ROK, or South Korea)

Orsolya - Mongolia

Xiaolin - China


Occidenia

Brie - The Bahamas

Citlamina - Mexico

Dominique - Haiti

Joaquina/Wathahine - Haudenosonee (via Canada)

Wynona and Wichapi - Lakota (via the United States)

Zyanya - Guatemala


That will be all for now.

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People seem interested in my Valkyries lore, even if I have stalled to come up with anything new thus far. You have met Leila, now say hi to her partner Lyudmila. Although this does go into her backstory and motivation, sometimes I do feel I have only scratched the surface. Regardless, sit back and enjoy reading about your favorite Valkyrie sniper gal.


Without any further ado, let's begin.


(P:V) Lyudmila Dragunov

1. Lyudmila's birthname is Lyudmila Belikova (following Russian naming conventions, -a is usually added to last names). Her homeworld is Alatyr, a former "paradise world" (a term designated for self-sufficient colonies) that turned into a ball of ice after the planet stopped revolving. Within 50 years, Alatyr regressed into a tribal society, with only the hardiest of colonists staying behind, mostly of Russian stock, hence the prevalence of Russian-style names. Putting a real world analogy, Alatyr will be Siberia.


2. Lyudmila's upbringing is said to be stable. Her immediate family are her parents and a younger brother, Sergei. As mentioned, Alatyr has regressed into a tribal society, with only the planet's hunting lodges serving as any links to the Earth Sphere Alliance, which nominally rules the planet. Alatyr's fauna may be dangerous, but there are rewards for the men and women who dared to take the risk. In particular, bear grease and pelts from Alatyr's bear population (which are much larger and more dangerous) are of great demand, and this is where a young Lyudmila would hone her marksmanship. Since she was young, her father noted that his older daughter had a knack for shooting, so she was always the designated shooter while him and Sergei lured bears out for a prime shot.


3. Lyudmila's Japanese voice actress is Yui Ishikawa. She has voiced other characters such as Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan, the titular character from Violet Evergarden, 2B from Nier:Automata, Morgan from Fate/Grand Order, and more. Right now, I do not have an English voice in mind for her, due to various reasons.


4. Someone from the hunting lodge the Belikovs frequent must have tipped off the Valkyrie recruiters, cause within a week or so, strange men came and left Alatyr, followed by the news of Lyudmila's supposed death after falling off a cliff. As it turned out, the rumors were indeed true. The ESA recruiters had sent a mug Lyudmila had used for DNA sampling, and found a match. Once the green light was given, the recruiters tailed the Belikovs on their hunt, and arranged for Lyudmila to fall off an icy cliff. While officially, Lyudmila was declared dead, the real girl had been secretly rescued, and sent to Titan. Lyudmila certainly misses her family, but after learning that she was considered dead, realized there was no returning back to Alatyr, or to Sergei, the family member she cared for the most.


5. Lyudmila's marksmanship skills were apparent once she started training, but due to her not accustomed to warmer climates (in part due to Alatyr's cold climate), was subject to more conditioning stints. Among the Valkyrie candidates, Lyudmila always came off as aloof and cold, keeping to herself and only answering when DIs instructed, cementing her "cold sniper" image to her fellow Valkyries. Perhaps due to these conditioning stints, Lyudmila often wears clothes that covers her midriff, even when off-duty. According to Leila, even a simple blow would make her squeal, something Lyudmila detests (and often tries to hide).


6. Speaking of Leila, her and Lyudmila did not get off to a particularly good start at first. As the ESA soldiers who Leila fought as a rebel were primarily of Russian stock, there was already a layer of tension due to categorization bias. Ironically, it was a bigger pain-in-the-neck that started their bonding journey. Another Valkyrie candidate, Mary, was very competitive, and was notorious with getting under the skin of Lyudmila, often calling her "red" due to her red hair and Russian heritage. As Mary also ribbed Leila, the two began drawing closer from their mutual dislike of Mary. Lyudmila, on her part, refuses to talk a lot about her time, and calling her "red" is an easy way to get on her bad side (if you like a gun barrel jammed up your nostril).


7. Every Valkyrie bodysuit has been tailored to the wearer's aptitude, and Lyudmila's is no exception. "Dragunov" was named after the rifle from the 20th century, and Lyudmila certainly lives up to the gun's reputation. Lyudmila's primary weapon is a beam sniper rifle, a weapon suited for her since beam weaponry are unaffected by ballistics, allowing her to line up straight shots. Lyudmila prefers her kills to be clean, just as she was hunting as a child. For more precise shots, Lyudmila has a "gun camera" equipped into her helmet, which lets her see from the view of her gun barrel, which has a range of nearly 1.5 km. The downside is that with the gun camera equipped, Lyudmila literally cannot see anything else, which makes her a prime target for an ambush. As such, Lyudmila usually sets up "nests" to prevent being snuck up on in battle. If long range is not an option, Lyudmila has a pair of beam pistols that she uses, or a beam bayonet that can be attached to her signature rifle. That being said, Leila is generally the one who prefers fighting in close quarters, and it's considered a bad sign if Lyudmila is forced into melee combat.


8. Unlike Leila, Lyudmila has at least tried to socialize outside of work, and surprisingly, she gets along swimmingly with Ensign Sally Allen, one of the officers serving on the strike cruiser Defiance. In spite of the Canada-Russia rivalry (Allen is Canadian), both of them bonded over a love of tea, and Lyudmila usually stands up for the rookie officer when it feels like other personnel are giving her a hard time. It's hard to tell if Lyudmila saw a surrogate younger sibling in Ensign Allen, as her actual brother Sergei would be around the same age at this time. Allen, in her part, does her best to speak on behalf of the Valkyries to alleviate the tensions of the Defiance crew, due to their super-soldier status, a source of mistrust and suspicion.


So those are some facts about everyone's favorite Valkyrie sniper gal. Is there anything that interests you, or something else you want to find out more? Sound off in the comments section. With that, we have come to the end of another entry of 8 Facts, and I will see you in the next one. Peace.

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Hey everyone, this is TheKenzai1987 here.


I am afraid to say that the title is kind of serious. No, not in the "life threatening" sense, but lately, it has been very difficult for me to draw. First off, my company just capped off a mega-project, and the last weeks leading to the deadline was insane crunch. Second, as if by coincidence, I came down with a flu right after the crunch period was over. I have since recovered, but now it's a two week long company-wide workshop I have to attend, which further strains on my creative output.


This late September and early October will be a pretty "dry" period for me art-wise, cause there is no way I can draw anything with work and this workshop occupying my mind. I may post some art dumps and such, but I guarantee nothing. I may also be delayed with doing some drawings for some friends of mine, and I apologize in advance. Sorry everyone, but with so much crashing down on me so soon, I need breathing space.


Anyway, that is it for the update, and apologizes if it's not a particularly optimistic one.

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I needed to do something to shake myself out of this funk, since this big project is not over yet. Grazia is one of the "reworked" characters, and while I have fleshed out her bio, maybe an 8 Facts entry will help with more exposition. If you had wanted to find out more about the cynical "confessor nun", now's your chance.

So without further ado, let's jump in.


Grazia (Character Bio)

1. Grazia is a human female from Apennia (OTL Italy). She has short brown hair, with center-parted bangs. While she usually wears her nun outfit at work, headdress included, off-duty she also adds a hairband (with a bow decor on the left side). Clothing-wise, Grazia is not particularly picky, so she is fine with just throwing over a long-sleeved jacket over what she is usually wearing. Very often, it's a top and long skirt combination.


2. Grazia works as a confessor for the Chapel of Cel, the national religious body of her native Apennia. However, Grazia has always considered herself a nominal believer, so her being a nun is quite a shocker, and Grazia often notes the hypocrisy of her career. However, due to family tragedy which will be explained in a later fact, it was "sink or swim", so she took up a job as a confessor since it pays a lot better than being an adventurer.


3. Grazia's planned Japanese voice actress is Ami Koshimizu. She has voiced other characters such as Kallen Kozuki from Code Geass, Beidou from Genshin Impact, Mugino Shizuri from the To Aru franchise, Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill, among many others. At present, I do not have an English voice planned for her just yet.


4. Grazia grew up in a small machine shop with her father and younger brother, both named Salvatore (Sal for her father, Tory for her younger brother). Grazia lost her mother after Tory was born, so Grazia had a pretty masculine influence growing up. However, world events would soon turn her world upside down after the Apennians suffered another defeat at the hands of the Suebian Empire. Unrest in Lodi, her home city, soon turned violent, as hungry and dissatisfied citizens began rioting. However, this was where Grazia had her suspicions, since her family ran a machine shop, not a food store, so having it attacked was an illogical decision. Nonetheless, the destruction of her family business played a part in her cynicism. Sal passed on from a broken heart not long afterwards, the combination of seeing his life work up in flames (literally) agitated his grief over his late wife being too much for him to handle. This left Grazia as the primary caretaker for her younger brother, who also had special needs after losing an arm during the riots.


5. While Grazia can appear aloof and uncaring, her soft side is reserved for Tory, her only surviving family member. Tory lost his arm after it got crushed by a falling machine, and it was Grazia's pay that helped to get the treatment and construction of a prosthetic arm for him. Grazia continued work as a confessor to help fund his education in the tech business, since unlike her, Tory had a stronger knack for machines than she does. The two siblings have seen each other a lot less due to Grazia's work and Tory's apprenticeship, but still write letters to communicate with each other.


6. As mentioned, Grazia is pretty cynical in the worship of Cel, mainly cause of her experiences in life. It certainly did not help that the followers of Cel were pretty luddite for their day ('luddite' is a term to describe someone vehemently opposed to machines), and Grazia had heard her share of speeches slamming her family business from nosey nuns in her hometown of Ludi. Besides funding Tory's apprenticeship and treatment, another reason Grazia joined the Chapel of Cel was to gain access to the Grand Library (Biblotecha Grande), which she believed kept records on the Ludi riots. However, as only senior staff were allowed into the Archives located at the basement, Grazia had to cut her teeth before she can uncover the truth on the attack on her family's machine shop.


7. Confessors are the "internal affairs" of the Chapel of Cel, and one of their main goals is to ensure there is no corruption or deviation from the worship of Cel by the Apennian city-states. This line of work involves having to tell apart truth from lies, and also subduing potential suspects, through force if necessary. This is the reason for Grazia's preference of the pole hammer. The threat of having their heads clobbered with blunt force trauma is usually enough to coerce cooperation, and Grazia has cracked a few bones in her line of work as an apprentice to a Confessor, hers being Licia. However, Grazia and Licia's relationship is a cold one, as the latter is more interested in advancing her career, even if it involves fabricating evidence. Grazia, on her part, wants to sever this relationship out of moral conscience, but at the same time, without Licia's approval, Grazia would never be able to access the Grand Library, which is a goal of hers.


8. In terms of relationships, Grazia has someone in mind: a condottierro named Giovanni (Gio for short). Her and Gio first met when he was assisting in the evacuation of Lodi during the food riots, and it was Gio that helped Tory find a healer. Despite her initial misgivings about mercenaries, Gio has earned her trust after helping her and Tory out. Technically, while Grazia was the one who forked out the most money, Gio also chipped in a sum, and sourced a prosthetic builder, since in his line of work, condottierri often lost limbs and needed prosthetics to live a "normal" life. If Grazia needed a marksman, Gio is always her go-to for the task. It was also Gio who tipped off Grazia about Licia's hidden ambitions, so suffice to say, the two trust each other a lot. However, due to her own fears and goals, Grazia is not yet ready to enter a serious relationship just yet.


And there you have it. 8 facts about the cynical confessor nun Grazia. Is there any other fact would you like to know or further elaborated? Feel free to leave your feedback in the comments section below. With that, we have come to the end of another entry of 8 Facts, and I will see you in the next one. Peace.

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